


hope

by trashy_cas



Series: natsumeweek [1]
Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Gen, day 1 of natsumeweek, prompt: greetings/goodbyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-10-31 22:49:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10909065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashy_cas/pseuds/trashy_cas
Summary: Nastume knows better than to gets his hopes up.





	hope

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1 of natsumeweek! The prompt is: greetings/goodbyes.  
> So excited to be a part of this!

It always begins with a greeting.

“Oh, are you Natsume? Nice to meet you. We’ll be taking care of you from now on.”

He always looks quietly at them, their outstretched hand, their face. Sometimes, they are smiling, but the smile never quite reaches their eyes. Most of the time, they are frowning, mouth creased with apprehension, sometimes doubt. He supposes it’s because they probably didn’t want another mouth to feed, especially one that’s rumored to be strange. Not quite right.

Very rarely, however, they will look on with genuine interest, and sometimes even friendliness. He feels the saddest when he meets these people, because he knows. He knows what happens next, and he knows how their good-natured intentions will be slowly turned sour.

He doesn’t blame them.

 _Just like his grandmother,_ they whisper when they think he’s not listening. _Constantly making things up to scare the other children. What a disgrace._

So, starting very young, he begins to stop hoping for anything whenever someone greets him.

_Why would he? They always end up leaving._

That’s why when he’s running from yet another youkai outside his second cousin’s-or-someone’s apartment, and the nice lady with graying hair and laughter lines around her eyes stops him in the street to talk to him, he is immediately wary.

That’s why when, her husband, the one named Shigeru, extends his hand to him for the first time on the foot of the Fujiwara household, saying kind words like _welcome to our home, Takashi_ none of the wariness he’s come to expect hidden behind his kindly features, he does not believe his eyes.

That’s why when he sees how the others accept him, despite his strange habits of looking over Kitamoto or Nishimura or Sasada’s shoulder when there’s nothing there, or always bringing that strange fat cat with him everywhere (and sometimes talking to it?), or turning up to school with dark bags under his eyes even though they’ve been on holiday for a week, he begins to wonder.

That’s why when he finally opens up to Tanuma, then Taki, about his… _gift_ , and Tanuma simply nods and listens, quietly accepting in the way Natsume now knows he is, and Taki tells him how precious his grandmother’s legacy must be, he is unsure of what to believe anymore.

That’s why, he supposes, he is now no longer so afraid to say goodbye, because he knows, he _hopes_ , that they will return. That they won’t leave him.

He doesn’t quite believe it yet, but that’s ok. He hopes, and that’s enough.


End file.
